UPDATED: CSN Houston offering free access to network through May to all cable, satellite and te

I was trying to find a stream for the Rockets rally today for CSN and ran across this. I'm so sleep deprived I can't recall if I've seen this posted already. If so, please delete!

UPDATED: CSN Houston offering free access to network through May to all cable, satellite and telco providers

Comcast SportsNet Houston officials said today they have offered to provide the channel free of charge to carriers, including DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, Dish Network and Suddenlink Communications, beginning today and continuing through May 31.

The “free view” offer is CSN Houston’s latest attempt to spur continued negotiations with major providers across a five-state area to pick up the seven-month-old regional sports network, which carries Rockets, Dynamo and Astros games.

CSN Houston is available in about 40 percent of the 2.2 million TV households in the Houston area and on Comcast cable systems in Little Rock, Ark., and Shreveport, La., but has not been picked up by national and regional carriers that service the bulk of its five-state distribution area – Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and part of New Mexico.

The offer would provide all subscribers of the participating carriers, if any or all chose to accept the offer, to the network’s coverage of the Rockets’ upcoming NBA playoff games in their best-of-seven series against the Thunder plus five Dynamo soccer games and to Astros games against the Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, Angels, Pirates, Royals, A’s and Rockies over the next month.

Network officials said the offer was made to more than a hundred providers in the five-state region. Most of the major interstate providers had not responded as of late afternoon, but the free view offer was accepted by Mid-Coast Cablevision, Texas Mid-Gulf Cablevision and Bay City Cablevision, which account for about 10,000 subscribers in the Wharton, El Campo and Bay City areas.

A U-verse spokesman replied: “As we’ve said before, we’d like to make the channel available to our customers on an a la carte basis, so the proposed cost is not unfairly passed to all of our customers across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. In fact, we’re happy to offer the free preview if we can reach a fair deal so that customers can continue to watch the channel on an a la carte basis immediately after the preview.

“The truth is, if CSN Houston felt strongly about their fans seeing these games, they could stream CSN Houston online during the free preview or offer us the option to make the channel available on an a la carte basis for fans who want to watch. But unfortunately, CSN Houston isn’t offering either of those options.”

Matt Hutchings, president and general manager of the network owned by the Astros, Rockets and NBC Sports Group, said the offer would result in a “sizable loss that our network will take on, but we feel that it is the right thing to do.”

“We are hopeful that our affiliate partners at DirecTV, AT&T, Dish, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable and others across our region will take us up on this unprecedented offer and make it available to their customers,” Hutchings said in a statement.

The free view offer comes in the wake of attempts by Mayor Annise Parker to arrange a meeting with network officials and with carriers in an attempt to alleviate what she has described as an “intolerable” situation for Houston sports fans and for taxpayers who helped fund the buildings in which the Astros, Rockets and Dynamo play.

Officials with Suddenlink, DirecTV and AT&T have accepted the mayor’s invitation, but no date for the meeting has been set.

In addition to Comcast’s Xfinity cable service in Houston, CSN Houston is available on Coastal Link in Brazoria County, Telecom Cable in Freeport and Fulshear and on Phonoscope, Consolidated Communications and EnTouch in Houston.

The offers were sent Wednesday to carriers, but there was no immediate word today on whether any would accept. A Suddenlink spokesman said he was aware of the offer but that the company had no immediate comment.

The free view being offered by CSN Houston is similar to other limited free-of-charge offerings made by assorted networks in an attempt to attract viewers and new subscribers.

The offer comes too late for many Rockets fans that missed out on the team’s regular-season games. Hutchings said there were three reasons for the decision.

“Just this week we received our 100,000th petition for the network, which illustrates the increasing demand for CSN Houston and is a milestone that deserved to be recognized,” he said. “Number two, this next stretch of games for the Rockets, Astros and Dynamo represents an incredibly exciting period on the sports calendar that the fans will love and deserve to see.

“Number three, in advance of Mayor Parker’s meetings with us and decision makers with the major providers, we wanted to extend a sign of good faith that shows just how dedicated we are to working towards a resolution.”

Kevin Gaffney, a media consultant who worked with the Rockets and Astros a decade ago during their first attempt to launch a regional sports network, said carriers may be leery to offer a channel to subscribers that might disappear a month later.

Still, he said, the offer comes at a good time for both parties with the baseball season under way and the Rockets in the playoffs.

“It’s a great opportunity for both parties to get together and get a deal done,” Gaffney said. “With the playoff games upcoming for the Rockets, it’s a show of good faith. The Astros and Rockets are not going to go away, so I would say it’s a good time for all parties to get a deal done.”

 

I'M SORRY!! I haven't slept in 22 hours.
Thoroughly embarrassed. Ok, delete please